New Features

(new!) Collectible System!

💡 Players can now pick up special objects laid out around the map. These are aimed to get players to do extra challenges along the level and really explore their surroundings.

• Includes animations and other cool visual effects.

Technical Accomplishments

(QOL change) Revamped Pickup System

💡 The picking up dynamic has been made simpler and more responsive !

• Use Joint to attach the player to the picked-up object physically. The result is a physics-based object-moving behaviour that feels intuitive to the player. If the object is moved into something, the physics engine will stop the player’s command.
• Pickup is not immediately completed but gives the player a brief moment to pull the object out.
• After the pickup is complete, all other objects turn into kinematics so that the player can’t accidentally knock them.

Updates

More progress towards polishing the first level

💡 Further polishing of our first level

• Adjusted to support the more refined jumping system with respect to the 2D mode as well as the updates related to our pickup system.
• Tweaked object placements and puzzles.
• Incorporation of collectibles.
• Level preview at the start of a level!

Started designing and setting up the tutorial level

💡 Created the basic floorplan layout of the tutorial

• Created puzzles to teach the player the basic mechanics of the game:
  • the floor player is not allowed to walk through floor shadows
  • switching to the wall
  • 2D platforming on the wall + moving from wall to wall
  • picking up objects
  • collectibles

Shadow Volumes

💡 No longer shown as the default for all objects in the level

• Instead, now the projection of the shadow onto the floor is the standard.
• The shadow volume is now transparent and fades in if the player collides with it to indicate that the player can’t walk through the ground shadows.

(QOL change) Camera System Behaviour Change

💡 When a 3D player approaches a wall, their POV is no longer swapped to a preview of their 2D POV until the player makes the request to change into the 2D mode.

• This helps prevent confusion around the state a player is in when they see their POV has changed without them having touched anything.

Other Miscellaneous Changes

• 2D character + walking animation ! (NO MORE PILL 🥳).
• Expanding of helpful UI: now more interactions are supported by our UI system including shapeshifting and the collectible system + updates to the the pickup and interact system both in terms of their positioning around the map, and colors displayed.
• Extra SFX.

Next Steps

• Start the planning of our second level.
• Incorporate Interactable system.
• Finish our Tutorial level.
• Implement the animations as provided by the art team.
• Further polishing of our level and concepts based on alpha build feedback.
• Host a new playtesting session.
• Moving shadows !